


To the Grave

by orphan_account



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Camelot, Denial of Feelings, Hate to Love, Jealousy, M/M, Prince Izaya, Secrets, Servent Shizuo, merlin series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-07-29 07:44:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16259759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Shizuo's strength becomes too much of a burden, he seeks help from an old physician in the city of Camelot.In an unfortunate turn of events, he becomes the servant of Prince Izaya.He must keep his strength a secret from Izaya or face execution.But, his secret becomes the least of his problems when he begins to fall for the spoiled prince.





	1. Chance Encounters

Worn-out brown boots kicked dust into the air as the man they belonged to trudged up the road leading to Camelot. His messy blonde hair and tired shoulders, hunching under the weight of a dirty brown bag, served as evidence of the long journey he had begrudgingly taken to get here.

After seeing his brother eating berries, the berries that Shizuo spent hours picking, he threw his family’s wooden dining table at his brother, breaking the table as well as several of his bones.

After that day, the other villagers feared his strength, and Shizuo feared that he would accidentally hurt someone else. His mother sensed this and sent him to meet someone in Camelot-- a man named Gaius who could help him control his strength and anger. He was reluctant to leave his mother and brother to fend for themselves, but he was even more afraid of hurting them, so he agreed to make the journey to Camelot.

The high peaks of the city’s castles were finally visible in the distance, and Shizuo continued on towards the city with as much reluctance as he had when he left his quaint village.

He did not stare in wonder as he passed through the magnificent gate to the city like most people did; it was only once he walked into the main square that something caught his attention. A noisy crowd of people were looking at something, shouting jeers and insults, and in the center of all those people, there was a man about to be executed.

The sound of drums and loud shouts from the crowd were quickly cut off. Looking around, Shizuo saw that everyone was looking up towards the castle, and Shizuo followed their gaze to see the king, Uther Pendragon, standing on one of the balconies of the castle. He wore the gold crown on top of his gray hair with an air of authority.

“Citizens of Camelot,” he said, addressing the crowd. “This man, Thomas James Collins, is guilty of practicing witchcraft-- a practice that I, Uther Pendragon, have banned in Camelot on penalty of death.” His voice rang out over the crowd with great confidence.

“Let this serve as a lesson to you all,” he continued. “I pride myself as being a fair and just king, but for the crime of magic, I can think of only one punishment.” He signaled with his hands to the guards, who grabbed Thomas by his shoulders and knelt him over the block.

The crowd waited on bated breath as the man with the executioner hood raised the axe above Thomas’s head and swung it down. Shizuo cringed and looked away as the crowd gasped at the scene.

Uther’s voice rang out over the crowd. “It has been 20 years since we have captured the Great Dragon and outlawed witchcraft from this land. So I declare a festival, to celebrate the day that magic had been driven from Camelot, and the city freed from the evil of sorcery for good. Let the celebrations begin!”

There was no applause from the crowd, instead, an old woman started wailing in anguish, gripping her robes in clenched fists and kneeling to the ground, crying. She looked up at Uther with an expression of sorrow and hatred. “There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic, it is you!” The woman let out a choked sob. “You took my son away from me! I promise you, by the time these celebrations are over, you will pay for what you have done to this land!”

“Guards, seize her,” Uther ordered with a nonchalant wave of his hand as he turned his back to walk into the castle. As the guards ran to grab her, the woman screamed, held out her hands, and Shizuo could see her mutter an incantation before she vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Murmurs swept through the crowd as it began to disperse, but Shizuo could only stand there in shock and outrage. Why did his mother send him to here, to a place where his special ability would not be accepted? He contemplated going back, telling his mother that she must have made a mistake, for there was no way he could find help in a place like this. But, the journey had been a long one, and his tired limbs told him they were not keen to make it again.

So, he walked up to the steps of the great castle, nodding awkwardly to the two guards on either side of the main doors, reaching to push them open when one of them yelled, “Halt!” Shizuo’s hand froze an inch from the door handle. “What business brings you to the castle?”

Shizuo stiffly put his arms at his side as he turned to face the guard. “I’m here to see Gaius, the Court Physician,” he stated uncomfortably. The guards looked at each other, and then turned back to give a curt nod to Shizuo. Suppressing a tick of annoyance, he pushed his way inside the great doors of the castle. He followed the conveniently placed sign that directed him to take the right hallway to find the Court Physician.

Gaius’ room was messy and cluttered with dozens of bookshelves along the walls and tables with books and alchemy ingredients spread haphazardly on top of them. Suddenly, there was a loud scraping sound from above him, and Shizuo looked up to see a big black cauldron falling down right on top of him, about to crush him. A rush of adrenaline shot through him as he reached up and caught it before it collided with his head, carefully lowering it to the ground.

He heard a startled gasp from somewhere above him. An old man with long white hair was standing on a balcony above him, looking down over the ledge with a shocked expression. “How- how did you do that?” He questioned startledly before hurrying down the ladder and coming face to face with Shizuo.

Shizuo began to speak but was cut off by the man. “Was that magic? That cauldron weighs more than twenty of you, how did you catch it?”

Shizuo froze in shock as he realized the magnitude of the situation. Remembering what Shizuo saw in the square, he shuddered. “No! It's not magic. I- I just--”

“Whether it's magic or not, you'd better be careful." The man interrupted. "If the King sees you lift a cauldron that heavy, there's not a doubt in my mind that he'd jump to conclusions. When it comes to magic, the King takes no chances.” Gaius said, turning away and bending down to inspect the cauldron for any scratches. Furrowing his eyebrows, he looked up at Shizuo. “Who are you anyway?”

“My name is Shizuo Heiwajima. You must be Gaius, right?” Gaius looked at him with a bewildered and confused expression on his face.

“You weren’t supposed to come until Wednesday.”

“...It is Wednesday.”

“Oh!” Gaius chuckled. “Old age. It gets to you.” Shizuo let out a nervous laugh, and the old man smiled warmly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about...” he motioned towards Shizuo and the cauldron with his hands, “...that. You did save my cauldron from breaking. This thing cost me nearly a year’s worth of earnings; it’d be a shame to lose it.” Gaius sighed.

Motioning for Shizuo to follow him, Gaius showed him to Shizuo’s new bedroom, and he just managed to remove the heavy bag from his back when Gaius grabbed his arm and led him back into the main room. “We’ll get started right away! I need you to make a special delivery for me.” He brought Shizuo to one of the tables and placed a small flask in his hand. “I need you to take this to the Prince. Poor boy’s suffering from nightmares. If he’s not in his chambers, he’s practicing with his soldiers in the courtyard. Bring it directly to him, wherever he is. He doesn’t like people being in his chambers when he’s not there.”

“Sounds like an asshole,” Shizuo muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The castle was very big. After getting lost twice and asking a guard for help, Shizuo finally found the Prince’s chambers. He knocked tentatively, holding his breath, but there was no answer. He let out his breath and made his way outside to the courtyard.

Shizuo heard the the rhythmic clashing of swords as he turned the corner into the courtyard. Dozens of knights were standing around, watching as two men in armor dueled. The one with brown hair was sweating profusely and looked immensely terrified, while the smaller, black-haired one, the one that was clearly winning, had a smirk on his face that made Shizuo’s skin crawl.

When the raven haired man spotted Shizuo, his smirk widened. The black-haired man stepped back and sheathed his sword, saying something to his opponent with a dismissive wave of his hand as the other man bowed his head and joined the other knights. The raven haired man walked over to stand in front of Shizuo, placing a hand on one hip.

He made a show of looking Shizuo up and down, assessing him with that smirk on his face. “Are you here to try to become a knight?” He asked in a mocking tone with a hint of fake pity.

Shizuo clenched his fists. The amount of intense hatred he felt for the stranger in front of him was like no kind of anger he’d experienced before, and he found himself saying something that he would later deeply regret.

“I don’t like you.”


	2. The Butterfly Effect

For a split second, Izaya appeared to be in shock; the condescending smirk on his face finally faltering into an expression of open-mouthed disbelief. Shizuo wouldn’t have caught the slight change in expression if he hadn’t been staring as intently as if he were trying to burn holes into the other’s face with his eyes, or if adrenaline hadn’t been sharpening his focus into an almost-inhuman intensity.

Several knights standing along the edge of the courtyard bristled, placing a hand on the handle of their sheathed swords, ready to unsheathe them at a moment’s notice; but Shizuo was not focused on anything happening around him. His attention was solely on the person in front of him— the person who’d caused the most dramatic reaction in Shizuo despite only knowing him for less than a minute.

Izaya recovered from his momentary surprise and quickly regained control over his expression, resetting it to the confident, smirking expression that seemed to be the default for him.

They simply considered each other for a second until Izaya blinked, scoffing at Shizuo’s grimacing face. The shorter man shook his head in exasperation, looking pitifully at Shizuo. “Do you even know who I am?” He asked, a mixture of humor and disbelief coated his tone; the mockery made Shizuo’s skin crawl, and the caustic sting of anger shot through his veins.

A vein popped in Shizuo’s forehead as his eyebrows furrowed, his frown deepening. He dropped the elixir he was holding onto the grass as the line of his shoulders tensed and his hands turned into fists, anger building up inside of him near his own capacity for the emotion. Shizuo surged forward, bending down to crash his forehead against the other’s. Their heads collided and Shizuo felt the smaller man recoil from the force— heard a nearly indecipherable whimper as Izaya backed away, curling over in pain and bringing a hand to his fragile forehead. Shizuo heard the sound of swords being unsheathed and shouts from the crowd of knights. “Back away from the Prince!”

The Prince.

Shizuo couldn’t understand— couldn’t register the words— he was so focused on Izaya. He was shocked to be feeling slightly guilty; thoughts of his family, how they wanted him to control his anger, how he bruised the deceptively delicate face of this man after simply being taunted by him. His own self-hatred and thoughts of disappointing his family ironically drove his anger over the edge. He reacted to the white flash of blinding rage the only way he knew how: by swinging his fist; and it was only halfway through his first punch that Shizuo processed the meaning of the knights’ words, stalling slightly but unable to stop the powerful momentum.

It was enough time, however, to allow Izaya to dodge, smoothly skipping backwards, barely an inch away from the force of Shizuo’s fist; his hair ruffled by the wind created by Shizuo's punch.

The knights behind the Prince reacted immediately, charging at Shizuo with their swords. Izaya quickly motioned for the knights behind him to yield, and the knights obeyed, halting so quickly that some almost tripped. Izaya turned back to look at Shizuo with a look that could almost pass for admiration. Izaya reached over to the weapon rack next to him and tossed a sword to Shizuo, who caught it clumsily, before drawing his own sword out of its sheathe.

“It’s not every day someone challenges me." Izaya said, smiling. "Now then, let’s fight in a more _dignified_ manner, what do you say?” Izaya asked, waving his sword for added emphasis.

Shizuo simply stood there in shock, holding the sword out in front of him in the same position he caught it in. “You’re Izaya? You’re the Prince?” He questioned, kicking himself for not realizing the obvious because he was distracted by the instant dislike he felt for the man. His anger diminished, morphing into regret after he realized the potential consequences of his actions. Shizuo could imagine the disappointed face of his mother if he couldn’t even last a day in Camelot without his volatile emotions ruining things.

Izaya, however, seemed to grow even more excited by the question. His eyes lit up; his smile turned sadistic. “So what if I am? Come on, we could have some real fun together.” The words sounded flirtatious, almost like an innuendo. It was enough to egg Shizuo on, gripping the handle of the sword tightly, but instead of swinging it, he instinctively used his other hand to throw another punch at Izaya; one that was just as easily and gracefully dodged as the first.

The chase ensued. Izaya turned his back and ran; he was gracefully fast despite wearing armor on his chest. They ran through the square of the city, pushing by the crowds of people as they ran past the grand castle; and then they ran into the market. They had just run past a fruit stand when Izaya looked over his shoulder and shouted, “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Shut up!” Shizuo growled.

Izaya merely looked forward again and laughed. The people in front of them scrambled out of the way as they sprinted through the marketplace. “I’m the Prince; I order you to tell me!” He called back mockingly.

“I said, shut up!”

Izaya laughed again, and Shizuo reached over to the fruit stand next to him, picking up an apple and throwing it at Izaya. The projectile missed its intended target by several feet, landing on the street just ahead of Izaya. The black-haired man turned his head to say something else to Shizuo, but before any more taunting words left his mouth, Izaya tripped over the piece of fruit, landing hard on the ground and dropping his sword, which bounced to the ground few feet away from him. Flipping his head around to see Shizuo's rapidly approaching form, he turned around and quickly scrambled for his sword, stretching his arm out to try and reach it. He was an inch away from closing his hand around the hilt of the weapon when he saw Shizuo’s boot kick it several more feet away from his outstretched hand.

With rage flooding through his system, Shizuo stood beside Izaya, raising his sword and aiming at Izaya's body before swinging down hard; but Izaya dodged that, too. The sword sunk inches into the dirt street as Izaya rolled over and hit the vegetable stand next to him, causing the entire stand to shake and the pile of carrots on top to fall over the edge and onto his body. Izaya winced and shielded his face from the rain of orange carrots falling on top of him.

After all the carrots had fallen to the ground, there was a moment of tense silence. Izaya stayed in that position for a while, with his arm up and shielding his face; and when he finally lowered it to his side, Izaya was smiling, looking at Shizuo as if they had just shared a joke. Izaya drew himself up to rest on his elbows, cringing slightly. A splash of red adorned his dirt-covered face as he looked up at Shizuo. Whether it was red from the exertion or something else, Shizuo couldn't tell, nor did he care. He simply pointed the tip of his sword at Izaya’s chest, and said “My name, by the way, is Shizuo Heiwajima.” Shizuo savored the way Izaya's expression faltered as his eyes fluttered down to the sword pointing at his chest, and he realized was being made a fool of; weaponless and laying on the ground, Shizuo could murder him if he wanted to. The black-haired man smiled manically and looked up at Shizuo; clearly trying to seem unafraid. The only clue that he wasn't completely calm was his pupils: widened in fear.

Shizuo broke away from the other man’s gaze. As he looked up, he spotted Gaius in the crowd of people standing around the edges of the market behind the stands, watching the ordeal with fearful expressions. Gaius looked wholeheartedly concerned for Shizuo, and that was when Shizuo realized how bad this must look: Shizuo pointing his sword at the Prince laying on the ground.

Not feeling inclined to find out what the punishment is for murdering a Prince, Shizuo threw his sword to the side, and it clattered to the ground next to one of the stands. Shizuo gave Izaya a smirk of his own before reaching down to offer his hand to him. Izaya's smile disappeared, and he furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he looked up at Shizuo, mirroring the hatred that Shizuo himself felt for the man; but Izaya begrudgingly reached out to grab the offered hand, sliding his hand against Shizuo's calloused one and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet, pulling his hand away as soon as he was standing as if Shizuo's hand was painful to the touch. Brushing off his armor, he smiled again and let out a happy sigh. “Well, Shizu-chan, that was certainly a surprise!”

“Eh? What did you just call me?”

Izaya’s trademark smirk returned to his face, but the usual effect it had was dulled by the smudge of dirt on his cheek and the red mark on his forehead.

Behind Izaya, Shizuo saw someone running quickly through the crowd. They were running towards Izaya wearing a long dark cloak with the hood drawn up and covering their face. Shizuo could see the sunlight reflecting off what appeared to be a knife in the person’s hand.

“Shizu--”

“Look out!” Shizuo cut him off as the cloaked figure rushed towards the Prince, brandishing what was in fact a short dagger. Izaya flipped around, quickly backing up to dodge the dagger being swung at his chest by the mysterious person. His foot slipped on one of the carrots covering the ground, and he tripped once again on one of the orange vegetables, landing hard on the ground and hitting the back of his head.

The cloaked figure jumped on Izaya, straddling his hips and raising the dagger high in the air; it looked like he was about to plunge it into the space at Izaya’s neck that no armor covered. Shizuo surged forward to push the figure off Izaya and deliver a forceful punch to the figure’s cloaked head. The blow knocked the figure’s head back and his hood fell off to reveal that it was a forty-year-old man, slightly balding but with a long, dark beard. The punch had knocked him unconscious, and he fell backwards onto the hard ground where he laid motionlessly.

Pantingly slightly, Shizuo turned around to the look at Izaya, who was still laying on the ground. “You’re pretty clumsy, aren’t you?” He asked.

Rubbing at the back of his head and cringing, Izaya let out a humorless laugh. “No, no I’m not.”

“Are you okay, my Prince?” One of the knights shouted as the group of them finally caught up to to Shizuo and Izaya. Izaya pushed himself off the ground, his expression darkening as he made eye contact someone standing in the crowd. It was his father— the King— Uther.

Uther walked towards them, ignored his potentially injured son in favor of turning his attention on Shizuo. “I saw what happened. You saved my boy’s life.”

“No, I just--”

Uther grasped Shizuo on both sides of his shoulders, smiling wide. “I am indebted to you. There must be something I can do to show my thanks.” Uther said pleadingly. Gaius stepped forward from the crowd with a mischievous smile on his face.

“Shizuo is looking for work, perhaps there is an open position in the castle he can take?” Gaius asked.

Uther thought about the question with a pensive expression. His eyes flicked over to the unconscious man on the ground,  and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He walked over and knelt down, placing his fingers against the man's neck to check his pulse. A few seconds later, Uther let out a sigh and stood back up. “He’s dead,” Uther said, looking back to Shizuo. “Which means that Izaya is in need of a new servant.”

“No.” Izaya cut in immediately without a trace of the usual playful lilt in his voice.

Shizuo furrowed his eyebrows puzzledly. “Wait, the man that attacked Izaya was his servant?” He asked.

Uther nodded, looking down at the man. “I always sensed there was something off about him. He never served Izaya well." Uther walked back over to where Shizuo was standing. "But you, you are clearly better suited to the position.” The King smiled, patting Shizuo on the arm.

Shizuo shook his head. “I don’t think--”

“It would be an honor to serve the Prince. Isn't that right, Shizuo?” Gaius interrupted, looking at Shizuo with his eyebrows raised.

Everyone was looking at Shizuo expectantly except Izaya, who looked absolutely bitter. His eyes were narrowed and he was staring at Shizuo as if daring him to agree. Shizuo didn't want to be a servant to Izaya, either, but knowing it would disappoint everyone else if he declined, he looked down at the ground and solemnly nodded his head.

“Then it’s official.” Uther stated, smiling warmly at Shizuo. The knights around them cheered. Uther thanked him again before turning around to walk back to the castle with the other knights. Several of them offered their congratulations to Shizuo and shook his hand before following Uther back to the castle.

Beside him, Izaya’s mouth twitched into a smirk. “Well then, new servant, you can start with mucking out the stables!”


End file.
